So, through my two closest friends in my program, Natalie and Jason, I've found out that no one has started studying for our exam on Monday. In response, I too will procrastinate, and get this next update posted! This one should cover the end of February.

Natalie you saw, well her back that is, in the last update (Sorry Natalie, I have no Murphy pictures of you!). In the upcoming updates you'll see lots of Jason, as he was in about half of all the photos I took of Murphy from the end of February, when he and I started dating, through April, when we moved away from Kamloops. I have more than 50 pictures that were taken during this time period, so I think Jason is going to get an update all his own (it should follow this one within the next few days). So before we dive into all those Jason pictures, let's check out a few other idiosyncrasies Murphy developed in Kamloops. First, his new "den".

 

Murphy loved this little space under my bathroom counter. As seen above right, sometimes he'd use the scale as a pillow. He'd retreat here any time he was feeling scared, or just needed a rest. It really took over from his crate as his den, even though he had his crate in my bedroom. Sometimes I'd even have to tempt him out of there with a treat.

Murphy also developed a taste for his comb. Any time I was grooming him and got called away, by the phone ringing for example, Murphy would snatch that comb, take off, and start chewing. It has a wooden handle, which is almost entirely in his mouth in this photo, which he seems to find provides a pleasing texture. Alternatively, he'd grab it and just parade around. I, at this point, would be in conversation on the phone, totally unable to grab the comb which Murphy would keep just out of my reach.

But I ask you, would you too not find him funny and cute, judging by this picture? Look at him, all unkempt, with a comb in his mouth! Notice too that he's in the bathroom, by his den, where he thought he could safely retreat. As if he'd suffer no consequences if he just got to that den. I just wish that photos could capture the slow waggle of his tail, the one that shows that he knows that he's doing something wrong, but that he also knows he won't suffer any serious response due to his sheer cuteness.

Murphy, of course, served as a great study break for me through both finals and midterms. Here we have a few pictures taken during such study breaks. They show Murphy running, stomping his feet in play...

 

...and tugging on his moose. Those are my jean clad knees at the bottom of the last photo. I'd sit at my computer and turn every so often to play with Murph. Then when we were done he'd go snooze at my feet with his head on the base of my chair, or head to the couch, or...

...he'd go stand on my coffee table, as seen in the previous update. This was the little face I'd see upon turning around, with a waggly tail going crazy at the other end of his body, of course. If there was something especially interesting going on outside, he'd turn to look out the window:

But poor Murphy did get quite bored while I studied. Here's a montage of what he'd get up to while I hit the books, or rather when I stepped away from the books for a few moments:

 

 

He also enjoyed getting all tangled in the cords under my desk. This one he'd do while I was either at the computer, or at the coffee table studying. The poor little guy seemed to get himself tangled on purpose, just so I'd be forced to get up and untangle him. He'd stand there, tangled, waggling, just waiting for me to laugh, get up away from my books, and go to him. And if I didn't get to him quickly enough? He'd start moving forward, dragging my keyboard, mouse and camera dock with him. It would make a horrible racket, and sometimes this would scare Murphy, causing him to jump forward, further dragging all the computer paraphanalia with him causing louder noise, and so on. A vicious feedback loop.

But it wasn't all boredom for Murphy. He had all his toys to play with, of course. For the most part I had to keep his toy box closed as, if it was open, he'd pull out toys that he'd begun to destroy, and continue the task. Such toys included those made of hard plastic and rope, as well as stuffies made with longer fur. But once the end of school came, and I was studying less and less, I was able to supervise him more closely, and let him play with whichever toy he chose.

I love the bottom one, with his ear flopping up and over his head. And have you noticed just how furry Murphy has become by the end of February? Check this picture out compared to a similar one taken in September.

I shaved him down before school started, and then never had him groomed while we were in Kamloops. The only cutting I did of his hair was trimming his paws down a couple times during the school year. He's just so cute shaggy, but he's a pain in the ass to groom like that, that's for sure. I kept him shaggy until Allie came home to Vancouver for a visit at the beginning of May. Now people usually have trouble figuring out what breed Murphy is, but in this condition I had some serious trouble convincing some passersby that he was a spaniel at all!

Well, I think that's it for this update. I have all the pictures with Jason to go in the next update, then some pictures from Easter through to just last weekend. So prepare for at least 2 more updates coming your way in the next week or so!

Email me!

Meghan

Here's the link to the next update: June 5, 2003
Here's the link to the previous update: June 2, 2003

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